7476 Birds. 



indebted to Mr. Gurney Barclay for a narrative of tins interesting cir- 

 cumstance: "In 1837 a pair of these birds, which had been caged 

 some months, were observed eagerly picking up moss and hair in the 

 room in which they were accustomed to fly loose, and on their being 

 furnished with materials speedily constructed a nest, chiefly of fibrous 

 roots, similar to that of a bullfinch in a state of nature. The female 

 laid five eggs, from which three young birds were hatched." — Zool. 453. 

 The bullfinch sits on her eggs with such steadfastness that she will 

 allow herself to be handled without leaving the nest : instances of this 

 have often been recorded. 1 cite one : "A female while sitting once 

 allowed me to pass my finger several times down her head and back 

 without taking wing. T did this on two or three occasions ; once in 

 presence of other persons : the bird would open her beak in a 

 threatening manner, and submit open-mouthed to my caresses." — 

 Eev. C. A. Bury (Zool. 643). 



Materials. Twigs, fibrous roots ; a loose, carelessly constructed 

 nest. I have had many opportunities of watching the whole process 

 of nidificatiou and incubation in this bird, and have found the female 

 sit so close that you may stroke her back with a finger without 

 inducing her to leave the nest. I never found the male engaged in 

 incubation. 



Eggs, 4, 5. White, tinged with blue, and spotted with raw sienna- 

 brown. 



Ckossbill, Loxia citrvirostra. 



Situation. Fir trees, near Hampton Lodge, Surrey. 



Materials. " The nest is rather small in proportion to the size of 

 the bird, being only four inches and a half across the top, outside 

 measure, where it is widest, and the central cavity but three inches in 

 diameter. The outside is strengthened with a few slender twigs of 

 fir, then a layer of coarse dry grass, lined with finer grass and a few 

 long hairs. It is lodged close to the central or main stem of a Scotch 

 fir, about thirty inches below its highest point, at the base of the 

 shoots ; here the nest is supported underneath by five or six ascending 

 lateral branches of the fir, which so entirely conceal it that it can 

 scarcely have been perceptible from the ground, and the occasional 

 visits of the parent birds probably betrayed their retreat." — Mr. Long, 

 of Hampton Lodge, near Farnham. " Four or five years ago the 

 Scotch firs in the Holt Forest were cut down to allow more room for 

 the growth of the young oaks : when the trees were thrown four nests 

 of the crossbill were found in their topmost forks." — Mr. Lewcock 

 (Zool. 189). 



